Oil production in US hits 20 year
high
Prodigy Oil and Gas. According
to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), during November and
December of 2012, the average daily crude oil production for the United States
hit a 20 year high.
The
increased output from states such as Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota, to name
a few, helped push the daily production to more than 7 million barrels per day,
which is the highest mark since December 1992.
Industry
groups, as well as congressional Republicans, have asked President Obama to
open more federal lands to oil and gas development. They are claiming that by
doing so it would enhance federal revenues while also encouraging economic
growth.
The
groups point out that most of the nation’s oil and gas boom has been occurring
on private and state lands, giving places like North Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma
an economic boost.
They
also have pointed out examples like North Dakota’s Bakken formation as a reason
to expand drilling access on federal lands as well as Oklahoma’s Osage County
as an example of expansion in private lands.
However,
at this point, Obama has said oil and gas production already is rising under
his watch, and has given no indication that he plans to open more federal lands
for drilling.
The
groups continue to explain that by opening up both federal and private lands to
drilling, Texas and North Dakota increased oil production considerably in
recent years. In 2009, Texas and North Dakota combined to produce less than 24%
of America’s domestic crude oil. By December 2012 if you considered those two
states a country, they would have been the 9th largest producer of oil in the
world. They now produce 42% and 43% of the United States crude oil.
While
Obama is correct, oil and gas production has risen recently, the groups argue
that for the economy to feel any real economic boon, the trend must continue
and the bottom line is that significant increases in oil and gas production
will deliver a powerful economic stimulus to the US economy by bringing; a)
thousands of new shovel ready jobs to the states such as North Dakota, Texas
and Oklahoma, b) billions of dollars in new investments to those states, and c)
billions of dollars in royalty payments to private landowners.
To
accomplish this though, the groups feel that the “handcuffs” need to be relaxed
or removed by the current administration, which so far has been reluctant to do
so.
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